Disney+ has started successfully. In just six months since its launch (November 2019), it reached fifty million subscribers. This has allowed the company to generate $5.5 billion in revenue from the direct-to-consumer segment, which includes Disney+, Hotstar, Hulu, and ESPN. In recent months, however, the situation for the streaming platform has become more complicated, because It has seen its subscriber numbers decline over the past three quarters.
At the end of 2022, paid subscriptions for Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar, the Indian version and parts of Southeast Asia of the streaming service, totaled 161.8 million, up from 146.1 million at the end of June 2022. of this year. This is mainly explained by the Strong decline in existing customers in the Hotstar segment. There was a 24% drop in users, meaning around 12.5 million subscribers left the platform. Possible explanations include the exit of popular content from HBO like Game of Thrones at the end of March and the loss of broadcast rights to matches in the Indian Premier League, India’s premier cricket league.
The company recently had to take action to reverse the loss situation by introducing a new subscription that included advertising or removed syncing of some content to reduce costs.
Another problem the platform is facing worldwide is the proliferation of video-on-demand (SVoD) streaming platforms. Up to six new services have been launched in the last three years, including HBOMax, Peacock, Apple TV+, Discovery, Globoplay or Universal+. Many of the platforms already have more than 15 million subscribers, such as Apple TV+, Peacock or Paramount+.
Based on Statista analysis, this is expected The SVOD market volume will reach around 95 billion US dollars by 2023 and increase to approx $137 billion in 2027. In addition to Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Tencent Video are among the market leaders.